Figure 3.

Increase of ARG2-enriched CXCR2^Hi MDSC was negatively correlated with lymphocytes. (A) The ring chart for relative proportions of granulocyte subclusters in PB and BM at CON, KP1, KP2, and KP3 stages. (B) Representative flow cytometry plots of the CD11b⁺Gr1⁺ MDSC and CXCR2^Hi subset in immune organs BM and spleen. (C) During PIS, proportions of ARG2-enriched CXCR2^Hi MDSCs increased in the spleen and PB. n = 3 biologically independent mice. Statistical significance was calculated by the Brown-Forsythe and Welch analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. (D) The CXCR2^Hi subset but not the CXCR2^Low subset dominated MDSCs in peripheral blood in PIS models. (E) Representative flow cytometry plots of the HLA-DR^LowCD11b⁺CD33⁺ MDSC and CXCR2^Hi subset in blood samples from clinical patients. (F) Statistics of proportions of CXCR2^Hi MDSC in living cells among healthy volunteers (n = 5), pneumonia patients (n = 12), and septic patients (n = 10), as analyzed by one-way ANOVA analysis with nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test. (G) With sepsis progression, the CXCR2^Hi subset expanded in MDSCs. (H) Correlations between the percentage of CXCR2^Hi MDSC and neutrophil proportion as well as lymphocyte proportion. (I) The ARG2 contents in plasma from the healthy (n = 5), pneumonia (n = 12), and septic patients (n = 10). (F-I) Red and blue dots represented female and male individuals, respectively. Statistical significance was calculated via one-way ANOVA analysis with nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test. Data were presented as mean ± SD. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.